New tank filling as I type.

[smaug]

Here it is.Does this just scream African tank or what?!
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The trouble is ,I know nothing about african cichlids.I have done some research but the shear amount of them bogglles my mind.I would love some advice and a possible stock list for this tank.It is a 55 gal long.It has a rena xp-2 canister filter.It will be heated with a hydor eth 300 watt external.My water is naturally fairly hard,Im not afraid of difficult fish.This tank will be cycled immediatly due to doing a 50% media swap with an existing xp-2.I will be adding a few mollys from my pond to keep it cycled till I can get permanent fish,then I will remove the mollys.
It will be my wifes tank and she likes color,it has to be colorful.

[Lady Hobbs]

Does this mean you are doing a Hobbs. Filling up a tank while sitting at the computer? LOL I like the african cichlids, too. You might like the Calvus cichlid. Those are neat.

[Crispy]

Looks like a good setup for africans... for contrasting color you could get yellow labs and blue johannis. Then an artaurus for some more contrast. You could also have a peacock colony in there. There are nice yellows, blues, and red varieties of them.

[sailor]

The blue mangaino's have a better temperment than the blue johannis and the females look the same as the males.

It would also make a great all male peacock tank(different varieties of course)


Neolamprologus tretocephalus are an awsome pretty fish as well. A colony of theses would look great

here is a link

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1639

[smaug]

Does this mean you are doing a Hobbs. Filling up a tank while sitting at the computer? LOL I like the african cichlids, too. You might like the Calvus cichlid. Those are neat.
Yes dear,thats exactly what I did.I just now caught a bunch of sailfin molly and black molly for starter fish.I have a concern coming to me though as I wait to dump them in.With all those rocks,Ill never be able to catch them to get them out.Hmmmmm,,,,,,,,,,,I would imagine if I left them in they would become a home warming snack to the above mentioned cichlids?
Thank you all for your recomendations so far,peacocks are one of the fish I have read into a little .My wife will want variety,if this were my tank it would be full of apistos.
Here are the tank warmers,this is my idea of drip acclimization,seeing as how the tank is new tap water,this is the way to go.[under the faucet if you can t see it right]
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[Lab_Rat]

Congrats on the tank, it does look like it should be filled with african cichlids. The first thing to do is figure out what lake you would like to keep. After you figure out that then you can narrow down the stocking even further. If you decide to go with Lake Malawi cichlids you should decide between mbuna and peacocks. If you try to mix the two the mbuna are likely to kill the peacocks.

Cichlid-forum has a ton of cookie cutter tank plans which are a good place to start if you have no idea what you want. If you want a patriotic sort of tank you could go with cobalt blues, red zebras, and albino socolofi.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_55g.php

[smaug]

Here are a few of the "tank warmers"If you can see the dots all over them,its not ick but is simply air bubbles from the new water.The 3 adults are half of the original group I out in my pond months ago.I have so many molly babys now I gotta do something.I will be talking to the lfs soon and see of they want them.
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[Lady Hobbs]

Fish food in the tank already! LOL

[smaug]

Not yet.Im gonna put an algae rock from my pond in there for them tommarow.This was really the easiest tank I set up so far.Being that I have an existing xp-2 that was in need of cleaning and a brand new xp-2,the 50% media swap will work like crazy.I couldnt bring myself to use the piece of junk top fin hob that came with it.Dang prices of renas has sure gone up since I last bought one 4 years ago.I paid 95 bucks back thenmthis one was 149.00.

[sailor]

The price on almost all aquarium accessories have gone up in the last few years. I't just gone plumb crazy lol

[MCHRKiller]

lol, Prices dont go up if you know a few tricks.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3602&prodid=6139&catid=113
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3602&prodid=6136&catid=113

If your going to load it down with africans Id definatly suggest running 2 canisters on there for efficientcy sake :22:

Nice tank BTW!

[smaug]

lol, Prices dont go up if you know a few tricks.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3602&prodid=6139&catid=113
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3602&prodid=6136&catid=113

If your going to load it down with africans Id definatly suggest running 2 canisters on there for efficientcy sake :22:

Nice tank BTW!
I never checked them.Oh well,support the local economy at times I guess.My wife dont like african cichlids,I tried to talk her into them but she wants blood parrots.Okeedokee,it was either that or goldfish,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,no way Im keeping goldfish in a tank,a pond yes,not a tank.

[smaug]

Well,as of yesterday there are 2 blood parrots,a featherfin cat and a handful of black and white mollys.There was a bit of ammo in the vial yesterday but as of today the seeded filter is totally cycled.The parrots are acting just like parrots and they seem to be loving life.They dont like the featherfin but its nothing rough,he stole a pellet from a parrot this afternoon by mugging him for it.The next fish will be a few silver dollars and that will be about it with the exception of some small bottom feeders such as corys and possibly a few loaches as yet to be decided.I will pick up a small powerhead this weekend to keep the rocks blowed out well and possible a few tallish plastic plants to break up the big blue backround.

[Lady Hobbs]

You did it! You got the parrots. Pictures! Got a have em.

[smaug]

Yup,!I got um.thumbs2:
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They are real characters,especially the squeaker.You should see the parrots chasing the baby mollys around,they are intent on eating them for sure.

[Lady Hobbs]

Awwwwwww........they are colored up really nice already. Looks like yours will be the solid orange with no dark on them. Mine are one of each. They look great. What is with the featherfins? My parrots don't like mine, either, but the featherfins just ignore the parrots.

Hope you and the wife like them. I sure love my guys.

[smaug]

Acyually the one my wife thinks is a girl has streaks of black on her fins and eyeliner.They hide alot right now.

[Ocellatus]

Great pick up! BPs are real fun. you will enjoy watching them doing silly things!
they are kinda shy when small, will come around when they settled down.

the black on them usually appeares at stress times like movement, spawning, fighting, etc. its not uncommon in hybrids. in most of them the black disappears after a while if they are not stressed out again.

[Lady Hobbs]

Some of them have the black skin pigments in areas. This is not the black spot disease talked about that blood parrots get in bad water conditions. Two different things.
My male has had dark markings since very young.

[Ocellatus]

Yes Hobbs you are right, and I didn't talked about all BPs too. :)
some have permanent black markings but many get random blacks because of any kind of stress and lose it after a while.

anyway, in my opinion both are kinda skin disorder because of their hybridity!